| Degrees 'R' Us
At (www.eCollegebid.org), college-bound students can bid on higher education based on how much money their family can offer. Although no colleges have signed up and no bids have been submitted, site creator Tedd D. Kelly told the Chronicle of Higher Education he hopes to have 25 to 50 contracts with colleges by the end of the year. "They are mostly private colleges that are not 'household names' and do not often make the 'rankings' found in the popular media," Kelly said about schools he thinks will subscribe to the list. Granted, many big-name universities won't need to consider bids from this site, as their name attracts enough applicants alone. But the schools that do consider this option are cheapening the value of a college education. Once a school determines that a student meets its requirements, the school offers him or her admission. The student must then decide within 30 days whether or not to accept the offer. But if the student or parent is unfamiliar with the admissions process, they may be pressured into accepting an offer before they can examine other financial aid opportunities. And even though bidding students must meet the same requirements as those who follow the traditional admissions procedures, they are basing their choice of a higher education on the price tag that comes with it. This is why things like Federal Pell Grants and scholarships were invented: so students can afford the university of their choice instead of having to choose the university they can afford. There are so many more aspects to college admissions than the financial aid package. Students should consider the school before they consider the price. We have three words for this Web site: Going, going, gone.
Hunger closer than TV commercials Her picture sits on my desk, right by the computer. I do not need it there, though, because I think she is forever etched in my memory. I have tried to forget her. Believe me, I've tried. But every time I try, I see her eyes, the eyes of reality. The eyes of a 4-year-old Mexican girl. She never did anything to me, really. I don't think she even saw me. I was just one of a hundred Americans in the marketplace of Piedras Negras, Mexico, that Saturday. But I saw her. And in that brief glance, that hot summer's moment, she broke my heart. She had nothing. Her entire life was wrapped in this little box of gum, a cardboard container filled with 25-cent Chiclets she was selling in the marketplace, wandering around playing on the sympathies of rich Americans. Well, it worked. Our sympathy was stirred, and our lives changed, by this little girl who, at 4 years old, was one step above begging. Right after I think of her, my mind immediately shifts to the shacks. Every day in Mexico, we would pass these boxes, these dwellings. Not even shacks really, but something so menial the vocabulary became meaningless. Short, small, square boxes made out of scraps of whatever wood could be found and guarded by fences made of rusted box springs from a bed consigned to the dump. And each box, each ugly battered residence, represented a family: children who played, women who swept the dirt out the openings, men who sat, dejected and poor - and I would imagine - hungry. This was not the first time I had seen images of poverty. Everyone has seen the news reports from the war-torn countries, or the commercials in which some minor celebrity holds up a child too weak to brush the flies away from his or her own face. But this time something was different. These children were life-sized, not the eight inches they occupied on my television. I could hear them, touch them, smell them. And no remote control would make them go away. Some of them are dead now. Their small, frail bodies must have succumbed to the hunger, to the agony of living day after day in the dust and mud without any food or anything to sustain them. Their bodies, stripped clean of any eaten sustenance finally turned and began digesting muscle. Weak, tired and hungry, they could fight no longer. The will to live could not defeat the empty stomach, and another briefly flickering flame was snuffed out. Statistically, around 30 just died while you read this column. Does that mean anything? Maybe not. After all, no one at TCU is dying without food. Starvation does not exist inside of the TCU bubble. Hunger Week, however, does. A small but powerful group of TCU students, staff and faculty have been working to stop the Goliath of hunger. This week is the result of their efforts, the culmination of a year's worth of planning, work and prayer designed to bring the reality of poverty to a campus of privilege. Maybe that does not mean anything, either. The cards, signs and e-mails are pretty easy to ignore. It is hard to take the problem seriously. Take this seriously, then: If you don't help, someone will die. Your inaction will result in a dead child. Twenty-four thousand people starve to death every day. Every morning, 24,000 more sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, men, women, friends, human beings do not wake up. There are excuses, of course, for not getting involved. There are always excuses. But do not tell them to me, or to the Hunger Week committee, or even to yourself. If you are going to make excuses, do it right. Take a trip to Mexico, or Africa, or even downtown Fort Worth. Find some starving person, and tell them. "I'm sorry I didn't contribute, but " "I wanted to get involved, but " "I didn't mean for you to die, but " Get involved. Save a life. Please. We are their only hope.
John-Mark Day is a freshman religion major from St. Joseph, Mo. He can be reached at (jmday2@-delta.is.tcu.edu). Lawsuits out of hand A neckbrace here, a wheelchair there and a dash of crocodile tears form the perfect recipe for cash galore. In today's society of modern marvels and conveniences people have discovered the new national pastime: lawsuits, lawsuits and even more lawsuits. From class action cases against big tobacco, to cases against Jon the local butcher, everyone and anyone can fall prey to the bug of legal briefs. Instead of going for actual losses, everyone is grabbing at the multi-million dollar purse string in the sky. One recent case involved Nicholas White, a man from New York who was trapped in an elevator for more than 40 hours. After being released, he filed a lawsuit against the owners and managers of the Rockefeller Center, a 51-story high-rise, for more than $25 million citing mental and physical anguish. What kind of figure is that? I understand that the company is responsible and should be accountable for some anguish, but why should this person get millions of dollars for being trapped in an elevator? The only way this person should get money is if he lost a deal that would cost him that much money. If it's so easy to get stupid money like that, maybe I should sue a movie theater for a trillion dollars for almost choking on a popcorn kernel. Or maybe I should sue the music industry for dishing out music that is anguish to my ears. Everyone has heard about the senseless case that required McDonalds to type on every cup in large print that coffee is hot, and one should expect HOT coffee when purchasing its hot morning brew. Any customer who glances at a warning label on items such as hot mustard or avocados can thank the safety-conscious public. One major factor to look at is the influx of lawyers in every community. Lawyers have been placed in a negative limelight since the beginning of time. To a certain extent, their reputation is justified. The image of the shady lawyer is being played out today with Frank Azar and the other legal eagles who guarantee their clients a share of the collective pie. Even looking in the phone book one could go insane with the amount of lawyers available. One cannot solely blame lawyers for the insurgence of a "sue-happy" society. The temptation of an easy buck might be too alluring for a person who believes they can make easy money by going after mega-corporations such as Microsoft or Las Vegas casinos. So what's the problem if one decides to sue an amusement park because they get too excited on the ride? Here's a suggestion for every person who has an inkling to file a case against people who breathe on you too hard: cyborg gladiator fights to the death. All of this would entail the accuser and the accused in a duel with pinata sticks and hockey masks. The winner of this event would be given the privilege of rummaging through the loser's refrigerator. While this may sound down-right mad, people should take into consideration that anyone who sues a coffee shop because their products are too hot might fall for this eccentric scheme. As every pointless lawsuit wins in the justice system, they demean and take away the significance other cases that are justified. The people who actually have a reason to sue a company and hold them accountable lose in some small way when the person with the fake leg brace comes in and sues a bank for mopping its floors too clean.
Marcelo Duran is a columnist for the Rocky Mountain Collegian at Colorado State University. This column was distributed by U-WIRE. Letters to the editor Article belies American dream, extends elitist view of work ethic The news article in Wednesday's edition entitled, "Surpassing A Dream," in which you presented the story of a man who has provided an education for his children by working at TCU, was greatly alarming because of one statement and the casualness of that statement. You mention that Hector Maciel has been working several jobs on average of 100 hours a week without even a hint of outrage. In fact, your article presents this as something to be emulated by all working-class Americans. Please do not misunderstand me. Maciel's sacrifice is incredible, and I'm sure his children are proud of having such a selfless father. But how can you write an article which indicates that a society in which a man is forced to work every waking moment is good? By writing a story that puts this in a positive light, you make it appear as if Maciel's story is an inspiration to all working class Americans. It says, in effect, that if one is able to put aside all selfish thoughts and work one's fingers to the bone for a mere pittance of what one's employers are making off of one's work, then that person will be a success. This is the argument popular in our society today. Anyone can get ahead if they work hard enough. To support this argument, the wealthy elite rule out a man such as Maciel and use his incredible work ethic as an example for the masses that the American dream can be realized if a person is willing to give his or her entire life to an employer (or employees). Is this the American dream for which we all strive? There is nothing worse than upholding an oppressive status quo. By showing how the lower classes can succeed despite being worked to death by the ruling class, the Skiff becomes nothing more than a tool of elitist propaganda. At this Christian school it appears that, indeed, we have nothing to lose but our chains.
Chris Stillwell graduate student
PC should consider student parking needs before planning events I would like to express some concern for the parking situation during the Goo-Goo Dolls concert Thursday night. When I returned to campus around 8:30 p.m., it took me approximately 45 minutes to find a spot to park. I searched every lot on main campus and the coliseum, the lots where my permit is valid. While I was searching the coliseum lot, I found some spots that were coned off and had a sign that said, "Media Parking." Oddly enough none of these spots were being used, and the concert had already begun. I continued driving, having half a mind to go ahead and move a cone or park in a faculty spot. I approached the TCU and Fort Worth Police and asked if the "Media Parking" was going to be used, and all they said was I "can't park there if it is coned off." They then suggested I go to the lower lot behind the stadium or the freshman lot behind Ranch Management. I didn't care to see the concert, I just wanted to get a parking spot that I paid for and go to my room. I think bringing this concert on campus was a mistake. It is hard enough to find parking as it is and even more impossible when there are lots of people who don't even go to school here taking up spots that we students have to pay to park in. Next time, please think more about these things before planning something like this on campus, Programming Council.
Trey Johnson junior music education major
Recent incident suggests gun control not the answer to violence I'm afraid that Priya Abraham's ideas that in countries with the strictest gun control laws, "their schools and churches are the sanctuaries they were meant to be" is an inconsistent argument. Just last month, there was another widely unreported school shooting. A teacher and six students were wounded when a drunken school guard went on a shooting spree with an illegal homemade hunting rifle. This event did not happen in the United Kingdom or Australia, where the near-abolition of guns has just recently transpired. Instead, it occurred in a country where the private ownership of firearms has been virtually unheard of for decades - China. In the People's Republic of China, only the military and police are legally allowed to have guns. However, mass shootings still occur there. Once again, this is evidence that a person will always find a way to act out their will, despite any laws that would attempt to regulate the tools they employ to carry out their deeds. After all, Cain did not have a gun, yet he still managed to kill Abel. Finally, in response to Abraham's comments that the National Rifle Association uses the Second Amendment as the backbone argument for the recreational use of firearms, it is appears that she is unaware of the facts. The NRA has never maintained that the Second Amendment is about hunting or any other sporting use, instead they state that it is for the protection of the American individual from a tyrannical government. The people in countries like the United Kingdom would never understand this concept because they have always been under some form of monarchial rule.
Robert Davis senior computer science major |
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